Ruling-machine.



PATENTBD JAN. 30, 1906.

F. EIRUDOLPH. RULING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 27, 1905.

2 SHEBTSQSHEBT 1.

PATENTED JAN. 30, 1906.

P. E. RUDOLPH. RULING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 27. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

1 I I- 47 I .5 55

NITED STA:I ES

FRANK E. RUDOLPH, OF

'PATEN T OFFICE.

OMAHA, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 30, 1906.

Application filed July 2'7, 1905. $erial No 271,476.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. RUDOLPH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in RulingMachines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to ruling-machines of the class adapted to rule parallel lines on a continuous web of paper drawn from a roll and divide the web into suitable sheets which are deposited in a pile.

It is the object of my invention to provide a machine of this class of cheap and simple construction in which any desired number of webs of paper may be ruled at the same time, all the webs being fed, divided into sheets, and piled by the same mechanism.

A further object of my invention is to provide a simple means for marking one of the webs at predetermined intervals thereon in order that the resulting marked sheets may serve as indices to guide the operator in the separation of the pile of sheets into packs of a predetermined number of sheets.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a machine embodying my invention,

in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation thereof, partly in section. Fig. 2 is a detail transverse section in front of the feed-rolls on the line a: as of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail side elevation of one of the roll tension devices, and Fig. 4 is a detail transverse section in front of the sheetdelivering devices on line y 'y of Fig. 1.

In the construction shown I provide the main frame 1, on which is carried the feedrollers, the counting mechanism, and the sheet dividing, delivering, and receiving devices, and any desired number of frames 2 for carrying the rolls of papers and inking devices, one of said frames 2 being required for each roll of paper from which the webs to be ruled are drawn. In the drawing Fig. 1 two of such auxiliary frames are shown, the construction and operation of the mechanism 1carried by each of said frames being identica At the rear side of the frames 1 and at similar positions on the auxiliary frames are brackets or open bearings in which are journaled the shafts 3, carrying the rolls of paper 4 4 4", &c. From the roll 4 the web 5 is passed rearwardly and over the roller 6, journaled in the brackets 7 on the first auxiliary frame. On said brackets are carried suitable ink-reservoirs 8 and the adjustable ink-distributing table 9, carrying the ruling-pens 10, which are adapted to bear upon the web of paper as it passes over the roller 6 and make the desired rulings thereon. The said inking devices may be of ordinary and well-known construction and do not require detailed description. From the roller 6 the web is passed to and over the roller 11, adjacent which is carried another set of inking devices adapted to engage the web and rule the reverse side thereof, as desired. From the roller 11 the web is led forwardly and passed over the idler-roller 12, journaled in suitable bearings on the main frame 1, thence under the guide-roller 13, journaled in the brackets 14, and thence between the feed and perforating rollers 15 and 16.

From the roll 4 the web 5" is passed rearwardly over the rollers and past the inking devices carried on the second auxiliary frame, thence forwardly over the idler-roller 17 on the first auxiliary frame, thence downwardly under the idler-roller 18 on the main frame, thence diagonally upward and forward under the roller 13 and between the feed and perforating rollers. Any desired further number of webs, as 5 from the roll 4', may be similarly led past inking devices and thence forwardly under the idler-roll 18 and upward to the feed and perforating rollers.

On one end of each of the shafts 3 is placed an adjustable tension device (shown in detail in Fig. 3) and comprising a strap or band of resilient material, of which the central part is bent into a loop 19, passing around the shaft and lined with a bushing 20, of suitable material, such as leather. In the end 21 of the strap is screwed the thumb-screw 22 which passes through the other end of the strap 23 and has the coil-spring 24 placed around the same between said end 23 and the head of the screw, as shown. By means of said thumb-screw the friction between the bushing and the shaft may be varied as desired, the friction-band being prevented from turning with the shaft by the stop-block 25 on the frame, with which block the end 21 of the band engages, as shown.

The shafts 26 and 27, carrying the rollers 15 and 16, respectively, are journaled in suitable bearings on the main frame 1, and on said shafts are the gears 28 and 29, meshing with each other, as shown in Fig. 2. The shaft 26 is used as the main driving-shaft and carries on the end thereof the pulley 30 and loose pulley 31, from which a belt 32 extends to a suitable driving countershaft. The roller15 carries a notched cutting-blade 33, extending longitudinally thereof, as shown in Fig. 2, and adapted to roll into the'groove 34 in the roller 16, so that as the webs of paper are drawn between the rollers said blade perforates the webs in transverse lines at intervals equal to the circumference of the rollers.

From the feed and perforating rollers 15 and 16 the perforated webs are guided and carried forward by and between the endless cord belts 35, which pass through the peripheral grooves 36 in the said rollers and extend forward to and around the small rollers 37. Adjacent said rollers 37 are the disks 38, carried on the shafts 39 and 38 and from said disks the endless web-belts 40 extend forward to and around the disks 41 and 42, carried on the shafts 43 and 44, respectively. The upper shafts 39 and 43 are ournaled in open boxes, as shown, and said shafts are pressed downwardly and the disks thereon held firmly upon the lower disks 38 and 42 by the curved side springs 45, connecting the bars 46 and 47, which bars have suitable hearings on the shafts 39 and 43 and 38 and 44. On the main drive-shaft 26 is placed a pulley 48, fiom which a belt 49 extends forwardly to the pulley 50 on the shaft 43 and drives the same. The ratio of said pulleys is made such that the Web-belts 40 and the peripheries of the disks 41, 42, and 38 are driven at a greater speed than the peripheries of the feed-rollers l5 and 16 and the cord belts 35. Thus when the perforated webs of paper are engaged by said belts and disks a tension is placed upon the webs suflicient to break or tear the same transversely along the lines of perforation thereof and divide the same into sheets. In order to properly effect this breaking of the webs on the perforated lines, it is essential that the distance from the centers of the feed-rollers to the centers of the shafts 39 and 38 be slightly greater than the length of the sheets and that the webs when carried forward by the cord-belts 35 be not tightly held thereby.

From the disks 41 and 42 the sheets are dischar ed upon the inclined receiving-table 51, whic is provided with the end gage 52, the side guides 53, and the packing-fingers 54, carried on the transverse rocking shaft 55. Said shaft is rocked and the packing-fingers given a reciprocatory motion by means of the crank 56 on the end of the shaft, which crank is connected by a rod 57 with a small crank 58 on the end of the shaft 44, as shown in Fig. 4.

On the end of the roller 15 is a cam 59 of a form such that at each revolution of the roller a reciprocating motion is imparted to the cam-lever 60, pivoted on the frame and carrying on the end thereof a roller 61, which may be held in engagement with the cam by a spring 62. On the opposite end of the cam lever is placed a spring-impressed pawl 63, which is adapted to engage and actuate the ratchet-wheel 64. On said ratchet-wheel is a pin 65, which at each revolution of the wheel engages the front end of the lever 66, raises the same, and depresses the rear end thereof. The said rear end of the lever engages the plunger-bar 67, the lower end of which is adapted to engage the inked ribbon 68 and force the same into engagement with the paper web 5, where it passes over the roller 12. The ribbon 68 is carried on and held in suitable position by the spools 69, secured to a bracket on the frame, as shown in Fig. 1 By said means the paper web is marked by the inked ribbon at regular intervals corresponding to a definite number of sheets, said number depending upon the number of strokes of the cam-lever required to advance the ratchet-wheel one revolution. The marked sheets serve as indices to guide the operator in separating the sheets upon the receivingtable 51 into piles of a definite number without counting the individual sheets.

It will be obvious that a ruling-machine constructed as herein shown and described may be operated at a comparatively slow speed, yet have a large output, owing to the simultaneous ruling of a plural number of webs of paper. Further, the output of the machine may be increased with low additional cost, owing to the simple and inexpensive construction of the auxiliary frames and the devices carried thereon, any number of which may be operated from the same feeding and sheet cutting mechanism, which mechanism is itself comparatively inexpensive, owing to its plain and simple construction.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In a paper-ruling machine, means for holding a plural number of rolls of paper, a single pair of feed-rollers for drawing all the webs of paper from the rolls, ruling devices past which the webs of paper from each roll are drawn by the feedrollers, means on the feed-rollers for perforating the webs in transverse lines, and means subsequently engaging the webs for dividing the same into sheets along the transverse lines of perforation.

2. In a paper-ruling machine the combination with feed-rollers, paper-roll supports, 7

and ruling devices for simultaneously ruling a plural number of webs of paper, means for dividing the webs into sheets, and means for depositing all the sheets in a single pile, of means for marking one of the webs at predetermined intervals thereon, said means comprising a cam movable with one of the feedrollers, a lever actuated thereby, a pawl carried by the lever, a ratchet moved intermittently by said pawl, marking devices arranged adjacent the paper web, and means carried by theratchet for actuating themarking devices.

3. In a paper-ruling machine, means for holding a plural number of rolls of paper, ruling devices past which webs of paper from each of said rolls may be drawn, tension devices for retarding the unrolling of the webs from the rolls, a single pair of feed-rollers for drawing all of the webs from the rolls past the ruling devices, means carried by the feed rollers for perforating the webs in transverse lines at regular intervals thereon, and means engaging the webs subsequent to their passage between the feed-rollers, said means being adapted to advance the webs at a greater speed than the feed-rollers, whereby the webs are broken into sheets along the lines of perforation thereof.

4. In a paper-ruling machine the combination with means for supporting a plural num ber of rolls of paper, and a plural number of ruling devices past which Webs of paper from the rolls may be drawn, of a single pair of feedrollers for drawing all of the webs from the rolls past the ruling devices, means on the feed-rollers for perforating the webs in transverse lines, and means for breaking the webs into sheets along the transverse lines of perforation, said means depositing all of the sheets in a single pile.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

FRANK E. RUDOLPH. Witnesses:

D. O. DUDLEY, C. F. JonNsoN. 

